How to Write a Winning Business Proposal

If you run a business, you need to know how to write a business proposal. Whether it's a web design proposal, a graphic design proposal, a copywriting proposal, or some other type of proposal—it needs to be good. Your clients want to see a description of how you'll help them.

A well-written business proposal shows them what they need to see. In this tutorial I explain how to write a winning business proposal. I'll also share a few examples of business proposal templates from GraphicRiver.

Get an Envato Elements subscription to access thousands of unlimited template downloads for a single monthly fee, with AND CO access now included—which helps you streamline your business from proposal to payment.

1. Discover the Client's Needs

The first step in writing
an effective business proposal is to find out what the client needs. To do that learn all you can about their business.

There are basically three ways to research and learn about
your client's business:

Talk to
them. Ask questions. Listen to what they say, but also pay close attention
to how they answer. What they don't say is often as important as what they do
say. If the client is local, consider meeting with them in person.

Look for
online data. Find out all you can about your client. The more you know, the
more you can help. Learn what you can about their industry if you're not
already familiar with it. Start with the client's website and the search
engines.

Check
professional registries. Other sources to check include professional
registries and listings. These registries give you an idea of how the business
compares to its competitors. In the U.S. The Chamber of Commerce and Better
Business Bureau are two registry examples.

While you're learning about the client's business, think of
ways that your products or services can help them. Take notes. When you are
ready to write your business proposal, you'll need this information.

2. Get Clear Requirements

Do you understand the client's requirements? One reason many
business proposals fail is because the business person didn't know what the
client wanted. Don't make this common mistake.

It's better to get enough information early in the process
than to go back and rewrite your proposal or even worse, redo the work. A prepared
question list can ensure that you don’t forget to ask something important.

Here are three steps to help you build a prepared question
list that you can use over and over again:

Create a list of the minimum information you
need to do a good job. What you need to know varies depending on your business.
It should always include what the customer expects to receive and when they
expect to receive it.

Keep track of any problems you have with clients.
As each problem occurs, think of a question you could ask to keep that problem
from happening again.

Make a list of basic questions. Make sure that
your questions include the information from step one as well as the questions
you thought of in step two. Present these questions to each prospective client
before you create a business proposal.

Before you send the question list to a client, make sure
that each question is easy to understand. Wording is important. If you're not
sure if your list is clear, have a friend review it. You could also hire a
professional writer to make sure your list is well-written.

Remember to review your question list regularly. Remove any
unnecessary questions and add any new questions as needed. Be careful that the
list is not so long that it intimidates your prospects.

3. Estimate the Cost of Your Solution

Before you create your business proposal, you need to
estimate how much your solution costs. Estimating is a complex topic. I'll
just touch on the basics in this article and refer you to more resources for
further study.

One of the reasons you collected detailed requirement
information was to help you create an accurate estimate.

If you're providing a product, you may already have a price
list. Don't forget to include shipping and handling fees in your estimate.

Let's talk about estimating if you offer services. Here are some guidelines for estimating the price of your services:

Look at previous projects. It's best
to base your estimate on past experience for similar projects if you can. For this reason (and others), it's helpful to keep track of how much time you spend on each project.

Look at tasks. If you're new or you've never done a project like the
one you are estimating, think of the tasks needed to complete the
project. Make your best guess for how much time each task will take you.

Don't leave tasks out. A common mistake many web designers, graphic designers, and
other consultants make when estimating is to leave out the time it takes to
correspond with the client and answer their questions. Another mistake is to leave out revision time. Make sure that your estimate allows enough
time for both correspondence and revisions.

Allow for extra time. It’s better to overestimate the time you will spend on a
task than to underestimate it. With an overestimate, you have some extra time
to deal with anything unexpected that comes up during the project. If you
underestimate the time needed, your profitability will go down. You might miss
the deadline.

Here are two excellent Tuts+ tutorials on what to charge and how to give an estimate:

Once you finish your estimate, you're ready to begin writing
your business proposal.

4. What to Include in Your Business Proposal

A well-written business proposal should leave no questions about
what services or products you will provide and how you will provide them. Here
are the crucial elements every business proposal should include:

Executive
Summary. This should be the first section of your business proposal. The
executive summary focuses on your solution to your customer's problem. A client
should be able to scan it quickly. The purpose is to entice the client to read
the rest of your proposal. A short paragraph or two is ideal. Use the client's
terms whenever possible. Focus on how your products or services benefit the
client.

Scope.
This is the next section of the proposal. Provide a detailed description of
your solution. Make sure that you and the client agree upon what you will
provide for them and how you will provide it. An unclear scope can cost you
hundreds or even thousands of dollars. For more information about scope, review
the Tuts+ tutorial from Annie Mueller, How
to Stop Scope Creep From Eating Up Your Profits.

Cost of
Solution. Your customer needs to know how much your solutions costs. This
section details how you will charge for your solution to the client's problem.
This figure should be based on your estimate. If you're not sure how much to
charge, you're not alone. Many business people struggle to create an accurate
estimate.

Delivery.
Your delivery details should be clearly stated in your business proposal. The
details include the date and time of delivery, method of delivery, and a
summary of your deliverables. Don’t forget to take time differences into
consideration.

Terms.
The terms of your business proposal are important. They are there to protect
you and your client from any misunderstandings. They also include your payment
terms. This Tuts+ tutorial from Andrew Blackman, The
Best Invoice Payment Terms to Avoid Past Due Invoices, lists some terms you
may want to include. You will probably have the same, or similar terms, for
most clients. If you write a lot of business proposals, consider having an
attorney review this section.

Expiration
Date. A good business proposal includes an expiration date. You don't want
that client coming back years from now, when your prices have increased, and
asking for your old prices. Use a phrase like “proposal good for 60 days” to state
when the offer expires.

Your business proposal now has the information your
client needs to know to make a decision. You're not done, though. How your
proposal looks is also important.

5. Use a Business Proposal Template

Even if your proposal
covers the customer's needs completely,
you still might not get the business. A sloppy and unattractive business proposal can be a real turn-off to
customers.

Using a business proposal template means you don’t have to
worry about how your proposal is going to look. You already know it will look
good because a designer created it. A good business proposal template shows the
customer that you're serious about providing a business solution.

A sloppy proposal sends the opposite message. It conveys
that you didn't care enough to make your proposal look good. If your proposal
is sloppy, the customer may think your work for them will also be sloppy.

These templates are easy to customize for your needs. Just insert your
information, change the colors, and add your logo to make it your own. This
tutorial shows how we customized a simple business proposal template:

Once you’ve applied a proposal template, you are ready to
review your work.

6. Review Your Proposal Draft

After you apply the business proposal template, you may
think you're done. But wait, there are still a few more steps to writing a
winning business proposal.

No matter what type of business you're in, it's important to
review your proposal draft
Not only do typos and mistakes make you look bad, they can cost you
money. For example, accidentally leaving a 0 off of a $1000.00 price quote may
turn it into a $100.00 price quote.

Catching your own typos and errors can be tricky. If you
can, have someone else proofread your document. If you can’t find help
proofreading, here are some tips to help you check for errors yourself:

Let time
pass. You're more likely to find mistakes if you don't proofread your
business proposal right away. Take a break or sleep on it before you proofread
your business proposal.

Compare to
your correspondence. Review
your correspondence and discussions with the customer. Make sure that you
didn't miss anything.

Pay
special attention to the numbers. A mistake in the dates or dollars could be
serious. Check decimal points and look for missing zeros.

Read from
the back. Many professional proofreaders use the technique of reading a
document from the end forwards to find mistakes they might not otherwise see.
You can do this too.

You are now ready to send out your document, but there's
still one more step.

7. Send and Follow Up

If you’ve completed all the previous steps, go ahead and
send out your document. In most cases that means sending an email. If your
client is local, though, delivering it in person can be a good move.

Once your business proposal is sent, it's important to
follow up. Within a day, contact the customer to make sure they received the
proposal. The follow up step is an important one that many business people
overlook.

When you contact the client, offer to answer any questions
they have. Questions aren’t bad. In
fact, they signal customer interest. They also provide you with a chance to
close the deal.

Even if you're not comfortable with sales or worry about
being too pushy, you can still close the deal. I've written a tutorial on the
topic: